Le donne curiose

The first dramatic work by Wolf-Ferrari to achieve more than local notice, it was first performed in Munich on 27 November 1903 in a German translation as Die neugierigen Frauen. The first performance in Italian was in New York on 3 January 1912 with a distinguished cast led by Arturo Toscanini, including Geraldine Farrar and Hermann Jadlowker. Tullio Serafin conducted the first performance in Milan on 16 January 1913.

The story is a comedy set in 18th-century Venice about two wives checking up on the goings-on at their husband's club.

Wolf-Ferrari is an eclectic. The artistic lineage of Le donne curiose is plainly traceable to Mozart, though the influence of both Die Meistersinger and Falstaff is apparent. The orchestra is a relatively small one and in some respects the treatment harks back to an earlier day, when leading motives were less known. The music is distinguished by lyric simplicity and rhythmical variety. The prevailing character is improvisational, well adapted to the slight tale of harmless intrigue which it accompanies. There are several easily recognized numbers: the trios in the first act, the quartet in the second, Rosaura's love soliloquy and the succeeding pages of almost Mozartean simplicity, the prelude to the last act, the barcarolle chorus and the final ensemble.

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  The men at their club, Act I
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  Geraldine Farrar and Hermann Jadlowker as Rosaura and Florindo
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  A scene from Act III

• Amadeus Almanac, accessed 2 October 2008 (premiere)
• Amadeus Almanac, accessed 2 October 2008 (New York premiere)
• Warrack, John and West, Ewan (1992), The Oxford Dictionary of Opera, 782 pages, ISBN 0-19-869164-5
•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Lewis M. Isaacs (1920). "Inquisitive Women" . In Rines, George Edwin (ed.). Encyclopedia Americana.

• Le donne curiose (Wolf-Ferrari, Ermanno): Scores at the International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP)